Arthur Marshall

Yes, but all that means is that an agency worker is treated as self employed, and that depends on the exact nature of the contract. There's no such thing as a worker who is neither employed or self employed, because by the nature of working, you are doing something for somebody. All the rest is arguing as to who pays the tax etc, and how much. Agencies prefer you to be self employed because it's cheaper for them, and if the contract doesn't specify that you can only work for them, and not take up other work aas well round the edges, they might get away with it. A lot of them insisted that their contractees set up limited companies (at their own expense, obviously) and acted as directors (which meant the contractee paid less tax as he paid himself in dividends rather than wages) and that caused chaos as it was essentially illegal but took years to sort out. As usual, the law is a mess because it's written by twits with no training. That's why lawyers are rich and the rest of us aren't.

Yes, but even working on a casual basis you are either employed or self employed. Either way, someone is responsible for sorting out your NI and tax liability. If it's you, you're self employed. If it's someone else, you're an employee. If you're not paying tax or NI, and the Revenue doesn't know about you, you're probably a musician... OK, part of the illegal black economy! If you're not paying tax or NI, but live in a mansion, and have a million quid in the bank, you're a cabinet member...

A bit out of context - "worker" is only part of the definition. It gets further defined so the worker is either an enployee or self employed. It means nothing by itself.

Looks like a lobster pot situation - if you're not in a lockdown place you can travel to a place that is, but once there you're in lockdown so you can't leave. Also known as Hotel California Syndrome. As the infection rate appears to worsen dramatically under local lockdown, I'd avoid those places like, if you'll forgive the phrase, the plague.

All open today Yes, we went down to what is, in honour of her Scottishness, referred to as the Big Hoose by the winding hole for the night before going home.

Re the funeral, I think the six rule applies, so you can go to a pub in groups of six but mustn't mingle. If you turn up as a group of 30 the landlord can now, i think, be fined (or even closed down) for letting you in or even socialising outside his premises. So five groups of six are fine, one of thirty is probably illegal. And I think that's now law, not advice, with a grand fine if you get it wrong. Though that might only be in the NE, i haven't bothered to check where the fines are, but as the cops don't seem to know either... I'm also trying to think of a pub in Macc big enough to house 30 people social distancing. You best look it up in the morning, because who knows what the law will be by Friday? ETA the figure of 30 attenders seems to be just advice, not law, or it was on 4September and I can't see any update.

It's partly a mess because it's almost impossible to know what today's rules are, as our great leader has recently proved. If they change at midnight, how are you supposed to find out? No-one listens to local radio, what's left of it, there's no real local papers left, tv local news is rubbish, so everyone gets their info from Facebook, gods help us.. I visited a friend on the Wirral yesterday, which is under local rules, and neither if us could make head or tail of them. Over the road, in Cheshire, it's national rules. 12 pages of mixed advice, law changes and suggestions published at midnight and then threatening thousand pound fines? It's just chaos. The only sensible behaviour is to keep out of the way of as many people as you can, wear a mask when required if only out of politeness and regard for other people's feelings, and grab the first vaccine that comes along.

Maintenance is well behind now. They may get repaired over winter... They don't bother on the T&M until the second paddle gets bust, umless it's a psired lock in which case they don't bother at all until the second lock gives up the ghost..

Not sure. When I came down earlier this year, the pounds were empty and the lockie told me that if the reservoir is below a certain level, it gets priority for the water over the canal overnight and they can't run water down into the pounds until it's refilled.

You won't get that, because Serco et al will regard it as commercially important info. Remember, they are in this to make a profit, not save lives. For the same reason, the Govt have shown no interest in the WHO instant test though it's quicker and cheaper than anything else, as well as being available now - because it has to be administered by a health professional, ie the NHS. They may of course be forced to in the end.

And all because LadyG went to Lincoln. I knew going there would cause trouble. Horrible place.

If you have a home mooring, why would you want to spend a couple of months sitting under a tree somewhere else? Generally, you leave your home point and wander around for a while, maybe a weekend, maybe six months, and then go home, rest up, and do it again. That's called cruising. Most home moorers are leisure boaters, so it won't bother them, because we go on our boats to move, not plonk ourselves down. And the same goes for liveaboards, surely. Their home mooring is because it's convenient for work or school or whatever, so you'd only leave it to cruise. I really can't see the problem. And as Nigel pointed out on many an occasion , if you've got a home mooring you have no legal right to stop anywhere else except by the grace of CRT. The 14 day rule only applies to CCers.

And out the sides and round the back. I suppose they are better than nothing. Maybe.

Is this CRT's "Get Tony Dunkley" department working overtime?

I would be surprised if wearing a cheap cloth mask is of any use at all, and they fog my specs up and I don't like them. Due to beardedness, they don't seal at all. Visors are apparently useless. But it seems polite in the current situation to wear a mask when asked, so I do, if only to stop other people worrying a bit. It's nice if they feel a bit safer, even if it almost certainly isn't true. But, as I said in the dog poo thread, most people are plonkers and the trick is to try and keep oneself as safe as you can and not get depressed because there are a lot of idiots out there. You aint going to change human nature, though if enough of them refuse a vaccine when it arrives, Darwinism might lend a hand.

The thing is that, as far as I can see, dog owners are so used to their own dogs, and happy with their behaviour, that they simply don't notice stuff that others might object to. My friend has a deaf dog which responds well to sight signals, but has loud barking fits in the house which are ignored and will run up to people and dogs in the park when off the lead. While she complains about other dogs approaching hers, her animal's similar action just doesn't get seen. It's like a blind spot and appears uncurable. The real problem with antisocial dog behaviour is that it isn't a minority of owners, but most of them, including the ones who maintain innocence. They just aren't aware of it, and nowt can change that.

Everybody interprets laws to suit themselves, and so they should, because just because there's a law doesn't mean it's right. That's for each of us to decide, though admittedly most don't bother to think about it. The laws are not there to protect you, but the ability of the NHS to cope and the finances of the companies outsourced to do the testing and tracing. No law can stop a plague. The only one who can protect you is yourself. (Political comment, please ignore if necessary: if you think any of our current lawmakers give a toss about the lives of anyone worth less than a million quid, you really haven't been paying attention over the last year.) It's a bit like cycling. The law says you've as much right to road space as anyone else, but if you don't cycle as if you're totally paranoid, you're going to get hurt.

Is there a more up to date picture? The boat shown has no name or number painted on. I presume it did have when it went off -if there's no number dhown, CRT couldn't track it anyway.

The reason we aren't controlling the situation is because you can't control a virus. All you can do is try to reduce your chance of getting infected, and you do that by isolating yourself as much as possible, and that's it. You can wear a mask which isolates a bit of you a bit, and that may or may not protect others if you are a carrier, no-one seems very sure. The only places that have managed any degree of control of infection spread have done it by quickly identifying an infected person and isolating them and their contacts completely, with the necessary support. There is no such functioning system in the UK. So, if you go out and mix with people, you are likely to get infected, whatever rules they do or do not follow, and whatever the rules are this week. Until there's a working vaccine, isolation is all you can do.

Everything else, cooker and water heater are fine. I'm pretty sure a clean will sort it. Tony may be right about rust flakes too. I'm planning on getting to the boat Wednesday so will know more then. ETA I do appreciate all the suggestions.

Yes. Lights ok, burns well on 1 and 2 but 3 isn't right. I'll clean it up this week and see if it improves.

I rather like it... When my boating days are over...

Really? As someone has already said, it's not designed to save a boater's life, just to stop him blowing up a passer by. You could do that with a gas check. My last inspection cost me over eight hundred quid as the guy wanted all the wiring inspected and wrapped plus megafuses. The wiring had been completely redone for the previous inspection. By an inspector. I've chopped holes in the boat for one inspection that had to be sealed for the next. Stuff that was compulsory becomes advisory and vice versa. It's just a beaurocratic mess and always has been, just got more and more expensive and ludicrous as the years go on.

I noticed there were people mooring up there when I went by a month ago. As both the marked towpath moorings are on the shelf it seemed like a good idea. Unfortunately, at least one boat seemed to have set up permanent residence (going by the amount of clutter next to the boat) and this may be what stimulated CRTs action. They may also simply not want people clambering up and down the bank due to insurance liability when someone slips.

The external flue for the 3 way fridge is, or certainly was when I installed it, an optional extra, not an integral part. You could as well argue that no boat should have a solid fuel stove, as it impossible to install a chimney tall enough to comply with the manufacturer's instructions. The BSS is a load of nonsense that has cost us all a fortune to the benefit of nobody except a stack of penpushers.